Lubrication pump



May 28, 1963 T. R. THOMAS 3,091,306

LUBRICATION PUMP Filed Aug. 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 77/0/745 7710/745 May 28, 1963 A T. R. THOMAS LUBRICATION PUMP 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 6, 1959 W /aa /a/ 95 92 90 @79, 50 86 0 3 mi v m Tw .dk mr A 5 wp r, 5 WN 4. w .l l 4 Il 4 F W May 28, 1963 T. R. THOMAS LUBRICATION PUMP 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 6, 1959 INVENTOR. 7%0//45 l?. 777/0/7/45 BY MMM May 28, 1963 T. R. THQMAS 3,091,306

LUBRICATION PUMP Filed Aug. 6, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 May 28, 1963 T. R. THOMAS LUBRICATION PUMP 6 Sheets Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 6, 1959 IAP dw W/M/ /7 IN V EN TOR. www5 ,e new/Ms BYdW 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 T. R. THOMAS LUBRICATION PUMP INVENTOR THe/ma f? ryan/Ms May 28, 1963 Filed Aug. e, 1959 ATTORNEY United States Patent Otiice 3,091,306 Patented May 28, 1963 3,091,396 LUBRICATION PUMP Thomas R. Thomas, New York, N.Y., assigner to Auto Research Corporation, Dover, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed Ang. 6, 1959, Ser. No. $32,091 Claims. (Cl. 1814-27) The present invention relates toa centralized lubricating system and it particularly relates to 1a pump for Ia centralized lubricating system.

It is `among the objects of the present invention to provide a small compact centralized lubricating pump to supply a branched distributing piping system Iwhich may be readily placed in and about a machine to be lubricated.

Another object of fthe present invention i-s to provide a pump for a centralized lubricating sys-tem which may be driven in either direction with assurance that a full supply 'of lubricant will be fed to the outside distributing system and which will occupy ia relatively small volume and at the same time give full feed of lubricant.

Still further objects .and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that -this more ydetailed Idescription is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in rthe aart without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

lIn accomplishing the ,above objects it has been found most 'satisfactory to provide a rectangular casing which wi-ll house -a pump with its associated gearing iand cam arrangements `and which will have ia closure at one side thereof receiving lubricant from a m-achine lubricant reservoir and supplying it :to an inlet lilter.

Desirably there is provided a main drive shaft extending into the casing -a-t one -side thereof which through a series of reduction gears or Worm and gear drives actuates a lever arrangement through a notched cam, the position and ylocation of which notches may be preset or changed.

This notched cam will permit setting of an outlet valve from a gear pump at intervals so that the full pressure of the gear pump may be lapplied to the external lines at predetermined portions 0f the cycle, while during intervals this valve is free to unseat, permitting return ilow to the lubricant reservoir.

Interiorly yof the body there will be provided a reversing valve associated with the inlet and outlets of a gear pump arrangement so that the lubricant will always be directed to a single outlet regardless fof the direction in which the gears are :turning and regardless of the direction of drive.

ln the preferred form the drive connection extends in through the cover of 'the machine which cover carries the gearing arrangement, as well as the ydrive of the gear pump.

For compactness the axes of the gears are positioned at 90 to the axis of the `drive shaft while the reduction gearing desirably consists of |a plurality of worm )and gear assemblies positioned at angles to one another.

Normally one side of the rectangular housing will consist of the cover which carries the whole pump structure while the other side of the housing wil-l consist of the inlet connection which may be separated from the housing and also the inlet strainer unit which may be inserted in the wall of the housing.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described, and illustrated in .the accompany-ing drawings, wherein is shown ian embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, vari-ations and modifications can be resorted to which fall Within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE l is a transverse sectional view of the pump unit taken upon the line 1-1 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is la transverse oiset sectional View taken upon the line 2 2 of FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken upon the line 3 3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken upon the line 4 4 of FIG. `2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional View taken upon the line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an outside elevation-al View ofthe cover showing the drive connection and the outlet to the system.

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of ian alternative em` bodiment showing the pump housing mounted upon the side of the machine.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the housing of FIG. 7, taken from the left side of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a transverse sectional view similar to FIG. 4 of the rst embodiment, showing certain of the parts in 'section and also showing the outlet check valve.

FIG. 1t) is a transverse sectional view similar to FIG. l, of the first embodiment, but showing some variations in the construction of the pump and the housing therefor.

FIG. 1-1 is a schematic layout of the pump system sh-owing the oil lilow from the inlet through the pump and reversing valves tothe outlet or back to the reservoir.

FIG. l2 is a schematic layout of the gear train from the drive shaft to the notched cam.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, ll and l2 there is shown a pump housing A of generally rectangular shape having a removable cover B carrying the drive shaft C from the machine to be lubricated.

At ian adjacent end of the housing is the inlet connection plate D which feeds lubricant to an insert strainer E.

The outlet connection F to the system to be lubricated is indicated in dotted lines in FIGS. 4 and 6.

rIlhe gear pump unit G (see FIG. 2) will normally force lubricant past the ball check H (see FIG. l) and cause it to return through the passageway I into the interi-or K of the housing and then :to return through the outlet L back to the pump reservoir.

However, when the ball is pressed `ag-ainst its seat by the pusher member M pushing against its seat N (see FIG. 1) the lubricant will be forced out through the outlet F.

The drive shaft C will iirst drive the worm and gear arrangement P (see FIG. l) which in turn will drive the 'worm and gear `arrangement Q which in turn will drive the worm `and gear arrangement R which will drive the notched cam S and the notched cam S will oper-ate the cam lever T.

The cam lever will normally hold the pusher member M up from the ball valve H (see FIG. l) but when it engages ia notch in the cam S lwill press said ball lever down under the influence of fthe stressed spring U (see FIG. l).

The manually actu-ated instant feed press button V is designed to close oif fthe return flow I and give a shot of lubricant to the system iat desired intervals.

The reversing valve arrangement has a set of four check valves, as indicated at W in FIG. 2 yand it will assure that regardless of the direction of rotation of the gears the lubricant will ialways tlow outwardly in one direction to the external system iat F.

Referring particularly to the cover structure as shown in FIG. 3, through which the shaft projects, the shaft is 3 provided with a seal at` in 4the projecting portion `11 in the cover B and the shaft itself is atted at 12 for a driving connection.

The collar 13 will t in the bottom of the recess 14 land hold the shaft in position (see FIG. 3).

The shaft will extend through the structural portion 15 which depends downwardly from the cover into the body of the casing A and will carry the various moving parts and provide bearings for the various shafts.

The extension of the shaft C at 16 will bear in the structure po-rtion 17 (see FIG. 3).

The shaft portion 16 lwill carry the lworrn 1S which meshes with the gear 19 on the shaft 20 (see FIG. 1).

The shaft 2t) has -a bearing in the structure 21 and it carries the worm 22 which meshes with the gear 23. Shaft lalso extends to one of the gears 143 and drives this gear. The `driven gear inltermeshes with the other gear and thereby forms a gear pump. (See FIGS. 1-3, 11 and 12.)

The shaft 24 which is driven by the gear 23 extends through and has a bearing at 25 in the structural member 15 and it carries the worm 26 which meshes with the gear 27 (see FIGS. 2 and 12).

The gear 27 will drive the shaft 28 which has a bearing at 29 (see FIGS. 2 and 12) which will drive the notched cam S having the diiametrically opposite notches 30 and 31 (see FIGS. 1 and 12).

The cam lever T is pivot-ally mounted on the stud or shaft 32 `and it has a nose 33 which projects into one of the diametrically opposite recesses S :and 31 and yit has a claw or lifter element 34 at the other end which fits under the enlargement or collar 35.

When the nose 33 is out of the notches 30 and 31 and ride-s upon the outer edge 'or face 36 of the cam S (see FIGS. l and l1) it will m'ove the collar 35 to the right, moving the rod 37 to the right and compressing the spring U.

The Ileft end of the rod 37 as shown at FIG. l has a bearing at 3S in the cup 39 which is fitted `in the opening 40 in the structur-al member 41.

The spring U will norm-ally press down on the collar 42 tending to press the rod 37 and the member M to the right and pressing the ball check valve H against the annular seat 43. This will close the outlet from the charnber 44 having the inflow opening 45 from the gear pump G (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 11).

However, when the ball H can be lifted from the seat by the pressure of lubricant -in `the chamber 44 the lubricant will flow through the outlet bore I in the body portion 46 -tothe outlet recess 47 (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 1l).

The outlet recess 47 may be closed by the presser foot 48 of the `instant feed button V. The instant feed button V has a cup-shaped head 49, the depending side 50 of which encircles the sleeve 51 (see FIG. 1).

The sleeve 51 is press-fitted at '52 into the side 53 of the housing A. The stem 54 of the instant feed button is encircled by the spring 55 which tends to bias the instant feed button V upwardly and permit ready flowing of lubricant from the bore I into the interior K of the housing A from whence it will tlow int-o the outlet bore L black through the reservoir in the machine being lubricated.

The lubricant which flows outwardly through the bore .I Will lubricate `all of the bearings and gearing carried in the interior K of the housing A.

The inlet connection at 70 in the cover member D leads to the bore 71 which has a transverse bore connection 72 which leads through the opening 73 past the gasket 74 (see FIGS. 1 and 1l).

The cover D is held on by the screws 75 (see FIG. 2).

The lter E iits in a recess 76 and consists of two screens 77 between which is held the lter body 78.

The lubricant after passing through the strainer unit E will tlow into the bore 79 which is sealed by means of .the gasket 80 between the cover B and the side edges 81 of the housing body A.

The bolts 82, the heads of which tit in the recesses 83 and the Shanks 84 of which t in the tapped opening 85 will hold the cover B in position.

The cover B has a transverse bore 86 which leads into the chamber 87. The chamber 87 is connected -to the bore 88 in the body portion 89 by the sleeve 90 having the O rings 91 which will close the cap 92.

The body 89 has the recesses 93 which receive the check valves W shown `in voutside view in FIGS. 2 and 5 and in section in FIG. 2 and shown schematically as valves W1, W2, W3 and W4 in FIG. 1l.

Each of the units W has a body 94 with the sealing O ring 95 and with a one-way check valve 96 seated by the spring 97. Therefore, the lubricant can only ow from right to left through the check valves so that it will only ow in one `direction from the bore 88 through the outlet openings 98 and to the bore at 99. It will be clearly seen from FIG. l1 that the oil tlowing from bore 88 will pass through check valves W1 and W4 in the direction of the arrows when the gears 143 are rotating in one direction while check valves W2 and W3 are closed. If the gears are rotating in a direction opposite to that shown in FIG. 11, the oil will ow through che-ck valves W2 and W3 while check valves W1 and W4 will be closed.

The outlet of the bore 99 is plugged at 100 and it has an outlet ilow passage 101 which leads to the outlet connection F as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6.

The passageway 45 of FIGS. 1, 4 and 5 is connected to the outlet of both outlet check valves W by the passageway 99. As indicated, each outlet check valve can either discharge through the passageways 99 and 45 to the chamber 44 of FIG. 1 or through the passageways 99 to the bore 101. The passageway 101 in FIGS. 1 to 6 is in the same position as the passageway to 418 in FIG. 9.

The bore 101 will extend through the removable cover B as shown in FIG. 4 through the body of the cover to the outlet F by the same series of bores as is indicated at 428-429 and 430 in FIG. 9.

The lubricant therefore may flow through the outlet connection F through the bore 101 when it is being fed into the `line under pressure and when either valve H or 48 are closed or it may ilow to the chamber 44 and then overflow back -into the interior of the housing when the valves H and 48 are open.

The lubricant ow through the unit is through the lter E as shown in FIG. 2, after it has been received through the inlet connection 70 and has owed through the right angle bores 71 and 72 in FIG. 1 and thence through the opening in the gasket at 73 to the compartment which holds the filter. Then the lubricant will tlow through the lter 0r strainer E into the passageway S6 and 87 and then through the junction or connection and into the bore 88 and to either check valve W lat the right of FIG. 2 depending upon which way the pump is rotated. After the lubricant passes through the gear pump it will pass out through `one of the check valves .to the left of the gear pump in FIG. 2 and downwardly through the passageways indicated at 99 in FIG. 2 to ow back into the pump housing when the valve H is olf its `seat and the contact member 48 `does not close the outlet 47 from the passageway I.

In other words, either closure of the valve H under the force of the spring around the rod 37 or closure of the outlet 47 by the press button V will prevent the lubricant from towing downwardly in the passageway 99 of FIG. 2 and through the oblique bore 45 into the chamber 44. In such case it will flow up as shown by the arrows in the passageway 99 in FIG. 2, owing around the open space at the left end of the check valves 95 and then to the outlet yconnection F which is indicated in FIG. 4. The lubricant will flow to the outlet F from ythe bore 101 in FIG. 2.

The gea-r pump unit itself is enclosed in the plate 125 which is clamped against the face 125 of the body portion `415 by the bolts 127.

The bolts 127 will 4also hold the plate 12S `against the face 129 of the gear receiving plate 125.

Referring to the reversing check valve system W each check valve has a reduced -diameter enclosure or icylinder 140 (see FIG. 5) which encloses the spring 97 and which has a clearance 141 in respect to the `chamber 142 so as to permit oil -or lubricant 4to flow 4around the same.

In connection with the assembly the entire system of worm gears P, Q and R, together with the notched cam S, the lever T and the lubricating unit M will be held on the cover B. The strainer E will be closed by the cover element D which carries .the inlet passage.

When the nose 33 is out of either notch 30 or 31 the lubricant will flow past the lcheck valve H through the passageway J into the interior K of the housing A and then out through the outlet connection L to the reservoir which feeds the inlet connection '70.

However, when the passageway I is closed by reason of the engagement of the nose 33 .and either notch 30 or 31 or by reason of the closure of the instant feed button V :the lubricant will be forced out through the passageway 99 into the bore 101 to the outlet connection F.

It will be noted that the passageway is in parallel with .the passageways 45 and I :and it is only active when the check valve H is closed against its seat 43.

It is noted that the passageway 99 will feed the lubricant to the outlet F when the valves H `and 48 are closed or when the valves are open, the lubricant flow will be through the passageway 45 and the chamber 44 which is a parallel passageway in which case the passageway 99 is considered as being in parallel with the passageway 45.

The passageway 99 is shown as having arrows indicating How up to the outlet bore 101 leading to the outlet connection F which takes place when either the valve H is closed or the valve 47-48 of FIG. l is closed.

The four check valves W are mounted as indicated in FIG. 4 directly to the position adjacent where the gears 143 mesh so that iregardless of the way the pump is driven one diagonally opposite pair of check valves will operate to admit lubricant and discharge lubricant while the other pair will -be inactive so that the llubricant flow will always be in yone direction from the passageway 8S into the passageway 99 when there is feed to the external line or to the passageways 45 and I when there is feed into the interior K of the housing A (see FIGS. 1 3 and 11).

The present pump is designed primarily for use on an automatic screw machine, although it may have broader application and it is basically a reversible gear pump with an integr-a1 cyclic timing device which determines the frequency and duration of the lubricating period.

In the alternative embodiment of FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and l0, the device is shown in the manner in which it would be mounted upon Ian automatic screw machine.

In this embodiment correspondingly functioning parts are indicated by the same numerals and letters primed.

lIn FIG. 7, the `shaft C carries the pulley 400, which is driven by the -belt or chain drive 401. The bottom 402 of the housing A has a downwardly projecting lug 403, which has :a pivotal connection 404 to the upwardly extending lug 405. The lug 405 projects upwardly from the horizontal mounting surface 406 4on the machine tool body portion 407.

The right `side of the housing A is provided with a projecting arm 40S which receives the adjustment bolt 409, 'the end 410 `of which contacts the vertical machine wall 411. The adjustment `screw 409 may be turned by the hexagon head 412 and locked in adjusted position by the lock nut 413.

The adjustment screw 409 may be adjusted to lift the 6 housing A away from the Wall 411, with an increase in the center distance between the driving sprocket or pulley 400 and the driving sprocket or pulley of the machine (not shown).

This change in spacing permits taking up of `any slack to maintain a positive drive.

As shown at the left of FIG. 7, there is provided an inlet connection 414 from the sump, not shown, which leads to the angle inlet member `415 on the side of the housing, and there is also shown the outlet connection or .return 416 to the sump which leads to the angle member 417.

The check valve 418, which is mounted on the cover plate B in FIGS. 7 and 8 may lead to the lubricating system of the machine, and this check valve 418 will prevent drain back from the lubricating system when the machine is stopped and will 'also stop 'seepage into the distribution system of the machine being lubricated by offering a greater obstruction to iiow than the pump overflow passages, for example about 5 lbs. per square inch against less than 11/2 lbs. per square inch.

The instant feed button V', which is shown on the top 419 `of the reservoir of FIGS. 7 and 8, will normally be kept in elevated position by the spring 55, as shown in the sectional view in FIG. l, this spring rendering the push button V or V inoperative.

When the button is manually depressed, a resilient disk or bottom piece 48 or 48 will bear against the seat 47 yor 47 and cut oft the pump output from flowing into the housing.

This will cause the pump output to flow into the distribution system, thus lubricating the machine bearings tat lany time while the machine is running.

This operation is completely independent of the operation of the lubricator cam S. By the instant feed push button V or V', it is possible to obtain instant 1ubrication when starting up the machine rather than wait lfor an automatic shot of lubricant, resulting from the operation of the cam S.

Furthermore, by the use of this instant feed button, ythe face and yguides may be hushed of cut-ting lluids by tlooding wit-h lubricating oil before shutting down the machine.

This feature is impor-tant on machines that use a cutting tluid that may etch or corrode bearing surfaces if left in Contact with them for long periods.

The internal gearing of the pump of FIG. 2 may be varied to suit different input drive speeds and to vary 'the rate of revolutions of the cam S. This, together with a variation in the number of cam notches 30 :and 31 will change the frequency and duration of the lubrication periods.

Referring to FIG. 9, the instant flush button V is shown mounted upon the top 419 of the reservoir, with the cover B having an outlet connection receiving the outlet check valve 418. The lubricant will flow into the drilled hole S8 through either passageway 88a or SSb of FIG. 9, which are in communication with the angular drilling 45 (see angular passageway 45 in FIG. 5) leading to the chamber 44.

The passageway 88 and the passageways 88a and 88h are drilled through the cast pump gear cover structure or body portion 89 in FIG. 9.

The sleeve or interconnecting piece 90' has two O rings 91' to prevent leakage in the connection to the bore 88 from the counter-bore or chamber 87' in the cover structure B.

The double gear pump G' will pump oil from the remote sump through the tubing 414 to the inlet elbow 415 and through the strainer 78', as shown in FIG. 2.

The remote sump, which feeds the conduit 414, may be located up to two feet below the pump unit G or G', but it should in no case be located above the pump unit G or G'.

In FIG. 10 the lubricant will pass from the elbow 415 into the chamber 423 in the boss 424 and flow through the slots 425, the filter 78 and the screens 77 into'the drilled openings 427 and 428. These drilled openmgs or passageways 427 and 428 (see also FIG. 9) lead to the drilled passageways 429 and 430 in FIG. 9 in the cover B' where they communicate with the chamber 87 and then flow to the passageways 88a or 88h leading to the check valves W, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 5.

The passageway 430 does not communicate With the outlet 418 but it is plugged at F at the edge of the cover B. The passageway 430 only feeds the inlets 38a and 88b. Passageways 427 and 428' are shown horizontal in both FIGS. 9 and 10.

The oil will ow into the pump gears 143 of the gear pump G of FIG. 4 through one of the valves W, depending upon the direction in which the gears are bemg driven.

The valves W on the right of FIG. 2 will be inlet valves, whereas the valves W on the left of FIG. 2 will be outlet valves, and these outlet valves connect with the outflow passage 99 of FIG. 2, which leads to the outflow passage 101 of FIG. 2. Both the inlet valves and the outlet valves W will permit oil flow in one direction only.

For a given direction of pump rotation, only one pair of valves, namely one inlet valve W and one outlet valve W will be operative, and they Will be located diagonally from each other, with the upper outlet valve W at the left in FIG. 2 pairing with the lower inlet valve W at the lower right in FIG. 2, and with the upper inlet valve W in FIG. 2 pairing with the lower outlet valve W at the lower left of FIG. 2.

In this manner, the oil discharge from the lubricator will be upon a predetermined cycle in quantity basis controlled by the automatically operated ball check H of FIG. 1 and H of FIG. 10.

The lubricant will llow from the outlet passages 96 and 141 of FIG. 2 to the angular drilling 45 of FIG. 1 or 45 of FIG. 10 to the pocket 44 of FIG. 1 or 44 of FIG. 10.

When the ball check H' is not pressed against the seat N of FIG. 1 or N of FIG. 10, the lubricant will then flow through the passageway or bore .I of FIG. 1 or J of FIG. 10 to the outlet face 47 of FIG. 1 or 47 of FIG. 10.

This oil will pass the seating face 48 of the instant feed button V, which will be located in a pocket 435.

This lay-passed oil will flow and lill the housing A or A' up to the overflow port 436, indicated in FIG. 9, from whence it will flow into the elbow 417 and the returned tubing connection 414 back to the sump.

The oil retained in the housing A or A provides lubricant for all the moving pump parts. The cam follower nose 33 of FIG. 1 or 33' of FIG. 10 will normally ride upon the outer edge 36 or 36 of the cam S or S', and when the nose 33 engages either one of the recesses or notches 30 or 31 of FIG. l or the single notch 31' of FIG. l0, the spring U of FIG. l or U' of FIG. 10 will be released to press the ball check H or H' against the seat N or N blocking the pump discharge from flowing through the by-pass llow passageways J of FIG. l or I of FIG. 10.

When this occurs, the oil flow will flow through the passageways 99 and 101 of FIG. 2 and then to the check valve 418 to the external distribution system leading to the bearings of the automatic screw machine on which the pump is mounted, as shown in FIG. 7. l

The drive shaft C, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, and C, as shown in FIG. 7, has a thrust bearing, as indicated at the collar 13 in FIG. 3, and it will also have a bearing in the structure 17 in FIG. 3, and the retaining rings or collars 13 and 13a, as shown in FIG. 3, will hold the shaft C in position.

The seal, indicated at 10, will prevent leakage of lubricant past the drive shaft.

From the drive shaft C or C the drive is through the' 8 reduction gears 18 and 19 diagrammatically indicated in FIGS. 3 and l2 and then to the shaft 20.

The shaft 20 will drive the shaft 25 (see FIG. 3) through the gearing 22 and 23, with the shaft turning in the bearing structure 25a. The thrust is taken up by the thrust washers 25h and 25C.

From the vertical shaft 25 their reduction drive continues through the gears 26 and 27 to the cam shaft 28, which is contained in a bearing structure 29.

The thrust of the cam shaft is taken up by the Washers.

The shafts C or C will also drive the pump gears 143 through the shaft 20, as shown in FIG. 3 and more clearly shown in FIGS. 1l and 12.

It will be noted that the applicant has provided a very compact unitary gear pump arrangement giving assurance that the lubricant will only be fed in one direction regardless of the direction of drive of the shaft `r12 and the direction of rotation of the gears 143 of the gear pump G, indicated by the double arrows 144 in FIG. 4.

While there has been herein described a preferred form `of the invention, it should be understood that the same may be altered in details and in relative arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

l. A central reversible lubricant gear pump for a distributing system having an outlet to said system comprising a rectangular housing for the pump and reservoir, a recess on the exterior of one wall of said housing receiving an inlet strainer, a removable cover on said wall closing off said inlet strainer, -an adjacent Wall also being removable and carrying a bearing for a pump drive shaft and a pump drive shaft in said bearing, said adjacent wall being provided with an outlet to said system, a gear pump unit in said housing comprising clamping members carrying inlet and outlet passageways leading from the strainer to the gear pump and from the gear pump to the outlet, and spring seated check valves in said passageways and a pump plate clamped between said clamping members, said pump plate having intermeshing gears operatively driven by said shaft, one of said `clamping members having an overflow passage normally feeding the pump discharge back to the housing, and reciprocable Valve means automatically and manually operable to cut off said discharge back to the housing and force it to said outlet to the system.

2. The pump of claim 1, said manual valve means being operable through the side of the housing and said automatic valve being operable interiorly of the housing from said pump shaft.

3. The pump of claim 1, one side of said housing adjacent said strainer carrying said pump plate and clamping members and the other side of said housing being provided with a gearing unit to operate said pump gears and said automatic valve means.

4. The pump of claim l, one of said clamping members being provided with inlet passageways and inlet check valves in parallel to the gear pump and the other clamping member being mounted on the interior of the removable adjacent wall and carrying connections from the shaft to the automatic valve means and to the gears, the axis of said gears being positioned at right angles to the shaft and parallel to the axis of the automatic valve means.

5. A centralized lubricating gear pump for a lubricating system comprising a combined housing and reservoir having side walls, one of which is removable, a pump mounting structure mounted on the one of said side walls which is removable, a pump plate mounted on said pump mounting structures having gear receiving recesses therein, intermeshing gears in said recesses, a closure plate closing said pump plate, said housing having an inlet for lubricant, a system outlet for lubricant to said system, a shaft to operatively drive said pump, an inlet strainer and an overflow outlet for lubricant, and manual and automatic valve means for closing said overflow all mounted on said walls, and said housing also having lubricant passageways leading to and from the pump and to and from said inlets and outlets, said last mentioned means being provided with manual and automatic reciprocatory elements operating transversely to one 4another to close said overow outlet and force the lubricant to ow through the system outlet.

6. The pump of claim 5, said valve means being both positioned in the pump mounting structure and being arranged in series with each other.

7. The pump of claim 5, said pump mounting structure carrying the outlet passageways -to the outlet and said closure plate carrying the inlet passageways to the gear pump.

8. The pump of claim 5, said removable Wall carrying both inlet and outlet passagevvays leading to and from the gears and also carrying the outlet to the system.

9. The pump `of claim 5, said pump mounting structure having a valve seating face positioned on the interior of and closely adjacent to one of the side Walls of said housing, said face being recessed and said manual reciprocating element operating to and away from said face through said last mentioned side Wall.

l0. A lubricant gear pump for a centralized lubricating installation lof the type having a reversible drive mechanisrn and a meshing gear pressure means, comprising a housing, a cover for said housing carrying the drive mechanism, said gear pressure means comprising a plate having contiguous circular gear openings, meshing gears in said openings, an inlet system having a lubricant inlet and 'a plurality of inlet passageways, said inlet passageways connecting said lubricant inlet to the meshing points on one side of said meshing gears, an outlet system having a lubricant outlet, and a plurality of outlet passage- Ways, said outlet passageways connecting the meshing points on the other side of said meshing gears to said lubricant outlet, -and means to regulate the flow to take place in only one direction regardless of direction of drive, and a cam arrangement driven by said drive mechanism having a drive connection to said gears and a valving arrangement operated by said cam on said outlet system to cause flow of lubricant from said pump to said housing, said pump having a pump block, said pump block having an exterior valve seat positioned closely adjacent to, but spaced from the interior of `one of the sides of said housing, said pump block being mounted on the interior of said housing, said pump block having a return flow opening and a spring returned reciprocatory manually operated valve rod extending through the side of the housing and having a slide bearing in the side of said housing and a flat valve seating face at the inside end of said valve rod to close said valve seat and to close said return llow opening.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,717,814 Strong et al June 18, 1929 2,277,270 Schmitter et a1 Mar. 24, 1942 2,278,452 Kocher Apr. 7, 1942 2,787,336 Thomas Apr. 2, 1957 

1. A CENTRAL REVERSIBLE LUBRICANT GEAR PUMP FOR A DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM HAVING AN OUTLET TO SAID SYSTEM COMPRISING A RECTANGULAR HOUSING FOR THE PUMP AND RESERVOIR, A RECESS ON THE EXTERIOR OF ONE WALL OF SAID HOUSING RECEIVING AN INLET STRAINER, A REMOVABLE COVER ON SAID WALL CLOSING OFF SAID INLET STRAINER, AN ADJACENT WALL ALSO BEING REMOVABLE AND CARRYING A BEARING FOR A PUMP DRIVE SHAFT AND A PUMP DRIVE SHAFT IN SAID BEARING, SAID ADJACENT WALL BEING PROVIDED WITH AN OUTLET TO SAID SYSTEM, A GEAR PUMP UNIT IN SAID HOUSING COMPRISING CLAMPING MEMBERS CARRYING INLET AND OUTLET PASSAGEWAYS LEADING FROM THE STRAINER TO THE GEAR PUMP AND FROM THE GEAR PUMP TO THE OUTLET, AND SPRING SEATED CHECK VALVES IN SAID PASSAGEWAYS AND A PUMP PLATE CLAMPED BETWEEN SAID CLAMPING MEMBERS, SAID PUMP PLATE HAVING INTERMESHING GEARS OPERATIVELY DRIVEN BY SAID SHAFT, ONE OF SAID CLAMPING MEMBERS HAVING AN OVERFLOW PASSAGE NORMALLY FEEDING THE PUMP DISCHARGE BACK TO THE HOUSING, AND RECIPROCABLE VALVE MEANS AUTOMATICALLY AND MANUALLY OPERABLE TO CUT OFF SAID DISCHARGE BACK TO THE HOUSING AND FORCE IT TO SAID OUTLET TO THE SYSTEM. 